I searched and couldnt find anything but sorry if this question has been asked before...

I want to get an intercooler. I figure it may help with performance a bit but more importantly it will keep temps down and help my car run smoother for a longer time. Are there any possible negatives to installing an intercooler on a NA car?

 

An intercooler??? NO

 

umm intercooler? na car? it would basically be a CAI in the mouth of your car tahts rice. go FI other wise you dont need it.. if you're looking for better temps and such get a meth kit that'll help out with NA

 

Word, I looked at meth kits but an intercooler is less expensive, easy to install and it basically does the same thing

 

No not hardly. Meth cools wwwwaaaaaayyyyy more and ups the octane level.

 

He's doing a procharger, hence the IC.

Siliconeintakes.com has a good selection of cheap air to air intercoolers.

 

It just seems to me that an air to water intercooler would have the same cooling effect

 

uhhh intercoolers arent air to water, they're air to air....
H/E's r air to water

 

Nope meth is much better at cooling the intake charge. I have put ice on my throttle body before if that tells you anything.

 

cx racing has some awesome stuff I just bought a 28x9x2.75 innercooler of their ebay site it's bar and plate and is rated for up to 600 hp for 99 $ shipped

 

An intercooler is a heat exchanger. You can get air to water intercoolers.

Word, I trust you Im just trying to compare my options.

 

A heat exchanger is the device that actually transfers heat from the charge air, hence cooling it and the name HEAT EXCHANGER. Intercooler is simply a play on words. All cars, whether air to air or water to air are intercooled; meaning that the charge is cooled after compression. I am not sure, but the intake from the SS/SC should be able to be installed on a 2.4 but I'm not sure if it would be a direct bolt up or not... some of the 2.4 guys that have gone FI should know.

There really isn't anything to be gained from putting an intercooler on a NA car. The difference in tempurature would be negligable and therefore you would be gaining nothing, besides you would have to tune the car to get any gains anyways. Even with a meth kit you have the same problem, without a tune it is worthless. If you want to spend your money on performance gains, get a tune, or get FI then an intercooler setup. There are lots of other mods you can do as well that will net you some decent gains.

 

This thread made me LOL

putting an intercooler on a N/A car. The only reason you would need an intercooler is on a boosted app to keep the charge air temps down. Since compressing the air in either a turbo or supercharger heats it up.

Unless you are boosted and intercooler is a

 

I would tune for either mod I did, I know that most mods are not utilized without a tune. I also know that keeping air cool is a good way to make more power so Im looking into different techniques to cool the air going into my car.

In my mind it plays out like this. My car pulls in the surrounding air, that air is kinda warm, if you pass it through an intercooler it will be cooled down meaning more air into cylinder meaning I can tune for more fuel meaning I can make more power.

 

The intercooler is going to be a gient restriction in the intake path and you will lose power / thread

 

Thats a start, now why would it be a restriction? It doesnt slow airflow, I kinda look at it as a big air filter that will cool my air.

 

my opinion on that would be if you had a air to air intercooler and lets say that the air being drawn by the engine is not slowed down at all and you sprayed nos on the intercooler whilie going down the track or road or where ever. the air would be a hell of alot cooler coming in the engine then yes you will make more power but the cost > gain in power would be a major loss in money and weight. and even if you used meth it would be even more cooler but if itwas a engine or class where you cant use forced induction or nos then you can do it but thats just WAIST IN MONEY...

INTERCOOLERS are restricted when there is boost invoved but if you just let the engine draw as much as it can then it would work it would be like driving when its say 80 in day time to 30 at night.. the car will pull harder and then threres realy no heat soak at all

 

The problem with this is... how cool do you actualy think an intercooler is going to get your air? Ambient air, cooled by water at ambient temperature is still the same temperature; ambient. You would have to at least have an ice box to get the air any cooler. Even if you do get the air cooler then ambient since you have nothing to compress the air the gains would be negligable at best. You might be able to pull 5 to 10 HP at *BEST* (even that maybe wishful thinking). There are lots of other mods you can do that will net much high gains then that, not to mention they would not be dependant on refilling the ice box everytime you want that extra HP that you may or may not be able to gain.

 

What are some cooling mods I could do instead of an intercooler? Ive done every other mod in the book, now Im trying to keep my car cool. I dont want NO2 or FI anymore so cooling is basically my only option. From this Im getting the idea that cooling mods wont even help a NA engine.... That doesnt make sense to me, it seems like cool air will help a car regardless

 

only option is Meth

 

Word, then meth it will probably be

 

check out the hahn intercooler for the skys and solstice. I think its rated at 700plus hp

 

Are you running nitrous? I would say that would probably be your best bet for gains. If you ARE running nitrous, then adding meth would probably be most beneficial if you need the cooling. Are you seeing detonation? How do you know you really need extra cooling? If you are running nitrous and you want to play with timing I can see needing the meth to help prevent detonation, but that is the only real reason you should need it.

 

your intake temps are not going to be high enough to warrant an intercooler of any type. you are not compressing air of any kind so the air is not being heated and therefore no need for any intercooler. as said before, the gains are negligible.

also in regards to meth injection, this is mainly used for more aggressive tuning as it essentially increasings your octane rating and allows you to run more spark timing without having to worry about knock. this is not something you should be using for cooling. you will also likely hit your timing limit before you start losing power on pump gas and meth wont even be warranted.

if you are truly dying for something to do, buy the c02 kit and pump that into your intake pipe. gains will probably be worthless but its something that could work.

 

The only way I could see a intercooler on a N/A car being semi beneficial, would be if you lived in a extremely hot climate where its 100+ degrees on any given day.

Then it would only really benefit from road racing, as if you were gonna drag race youd only semi take advantage of it 3/4 of the way through.

a CO2 kit would be the cheapest overall, and still have a decent benefit from it.

Although, you should think of CO2 as the weaker younger brother when comparing it to nos.

If you plan on going F/I (today, tomorrow, or in a year), then it wouldnt hurt to buy a intercooler and try it out.



as said before to someone who said that the SS/SC intake will work on the 2.4, i dont see it happening with a turbo by any means. as our CAI is still in the location as of that with the N/A. (opposite side of the car)